OCHA Annual Report 2008
The past year saw significant new humanitarian
challenges against a backdrop of dramatic global events. As the food crisis,
the effects of climate change, and the global financial crisis placed new
strains on the international humanitarian system, OCHA was called upon
to use its various tools to support response to some 55 emergencies, including
natural disasters, armed conflict and epidemics. The exceptional damage
caused by Cyclone Nargis, the repeated hurricanes in Haiti and Cuba, the
cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe, and drought and counter-insurgency operations
in Ethiopia were among the major crises calling for coordinated response.
With these challenges came new opportunities,
and insights into how OCHA and humanitarian work need to be shaped in the
future. The global food crisis and our engagement on climate change showed
how acute vulnerability can be generated outside traditional crisis triggers.
The crisis in Myanmar demonstrated the critical importance of engagement
with regional bodies. As in the past, these new challenges prompt us as
an organization, and the humanitarian community as a whole, to adapt and
to remain flexible.
The year was also one of significant
improvements within the international humanitarian system. Humanitarian
reform is now the standard way we work, though there is room for continued
strengthening. The cluster approach has been implemented in nearly every
country with a Humanitarian Coordinator, and was rolled out in five new
sudden onset emergencies that arose in 2008. Humanitarian coordination
leadership was strengthened through increased accountability and clarity
of roles. Partnerships between the UN and non-UN parts of the humanitarian
system were reinforced further. And pooled funding at global and national
level made an ever more significant contribution to humanitarian relief
and coordination.